1. أرأيتَ أيَّ أكلَّةِ وخُدور

    أسبلنَ فوقَ أهلَّةِ وبُدور

    Have you seen what canopies and curtained chambers

    were lowered over crescents and full moons?

  2. وركائبٍ حَملت ذواتَ ذوائبٍ

    سُودٍ كأعينهنَّ بيضِ نُحور

    And riding-camels bearing women with tresses

    black as their eyes, their throats white;

  3. غيداً شوامسَ كالشُّموس وقلَّما

    يُسفرنَ إلاَّ في ظلام شُعورِ

    Graceful women, aloof as suns—and seldom

    do they unveil, save amid the darkness of their hair.

  4. سمرَ القُدودِ نهبنَ أعطافَ القَنا

    حُمرَ الخُدودِ سلبنَ حُسنَ الحُورِ

    Dusky of figure, they stole the curves of spears;

    Red-cheeked, they stole the beauty of the houris.

  5. أومضنَ من خللِ السُّجوف فأشرقَت

    منهُنَّ أعلامُ الرُّيا بالنُّور

    They flashed through gaps in the curtains, and

    the heights of al-Ruyā shone with their light.

  6. وهززنَ حينَ برزنَ للتَّوديع في ال

    كُثبانِ أغصاناً منَ البلُّورِ

    And when they emerged to bid farewell, they swayed, amid the

    dunes, branches of crystal.

  7. وَبسمنَ عن دُرَّ بكيتُ بمثلهِ

    فتشابهَ المنظومُ بالمنثورِ

    And they smiled, revealing pearls whose like I wept,

    so the strung pearls resembled the scattered.

  8. فاعجب لعاطلِ موقف للبينِ قد

    حلَّى لآليءَ أدمعٍ وثُغورِ

    Marvel, then, at an unadorned scene of parting that

    has adorned pearls of tears and smiling mouths.

  9. وسلِ الحُداةَ أخلَّفُوا لَّما سرَوا

    بالرَّكبِ غيرَ لواعج وزفيرٍ

    And ask the camel-drivers: did they leave behind, when they traveled by night

    with the caravan, anything but burning pangs and sighs?

  10. رحَلوا بكلِّ غَريرةٍ من دُونها

    فُرسانُ غاراتٍ وبأسُ غَيورِ

    They departed with every innocent maiden, guarded by

    raiding horsemen and a jealous man's might.

  11. ممشوقةٍ وجدي بغُصنِ قوامها ال

    مهصورِ وجدٌ ليس بالمحصُور

    Slender—my longing for the branch of her figure,

    bent and supple, is a longing without bounds.

  12. كحلاءَ لا يقوى لسيفِ لحَاظها ال

    مشهورِ عاجزُ وجديَ المقهورِ

    Kohl-eyed—against the sword of her glances,

    unsheathed, my helpless, vanquished longing cannot stand.

  13. عذراءَ ظلَّ بها عذولي عاذري

    سمراءَ باتَ بها الغرامُ سميري

    A virgin—because of her, my reproacher spent the day excusing me;

    Dusky—because of her, passion kept me company through the night.

  14. ثُمَّ التَّعجبُ يا عذولُ آليَّةً

    قد حارَ فيها لبُّ كُلِّ بصيرِ

    Then comes the wonder, O reproacher—I swear—

    which has baffled every discerning mind:

  15. من سمعيَ المصموم ِ أم من قلبيَ ال

    مفتونِ أم من جفنيَ المكسورِ

    is it at my deafened hearing, or at my

    bewitched heart, or at my drooping eyelid?

  16. ما جرَّ لي تعباً طويلاً حبُّها

    إلاَّ ورأَيي فيهِ رأيُ قصيرٍ

    Love for her never brought me prolonged suffering

    without my counsel in it being Qasir's counsel.

  17. يا ربَّةَ العطفِ الذي ما عنِدهُ

    عَطفٌ على قلقِ الحشَى مَهجورِ

    O mistress of the supple waist that has no

    compassion for one forsaken, restless at heart,

  18. تالله أَفحَمني هَواكِ وإنَّما

    شَكوايَ منهُ نفثةُ المصدورِ

    By God, love for you has silenced me, and

    my complaint of it is but a breath from an ailing chest.